Permaculture Earthworks Workshop March 6-8

We're gonna spend the ten minutes on the first day hearing from the owner about what he wants. And then I'll spend the rest of the day explaining why he's nuts and what we're gonna do.

This place is dry and warm. And when the water comes, it is pretty flood-ish. So we are going to need designs to get the water that comes through to stick around a while.

I like the idea that everybody makes a design, and then I will tell you why I think your design is stupid and I want you to start over. You will get at least five sheets of paper with a raw map on it - so you get five tries to shut me up.

On the second day and third day we will have a freaky big trac hoe. And there will be lots of seeds. And maybe some plants. We're all doing it together - but if our plans are bigger than we can finish, the focus will be on all the students get a chance to experience a little big of everything.

We will definitely do hugelkultur, swales, laser levels, mulch and, the best part: we're gonna seal a pond without using a liner.

Hi Paul,
I'm interested to attend this. You mention contacting you about a 3rd party place to stay -- can you send me some info on this or whatever the options are? Thanks.
Anyway, sounds exciting, I will book tomorrow if the accommodations are a reasonable.
Nice.

It was the giant picture of you on the sign-up for the workshop webpage that "said" to contact, but I think Diego really said/wrote that part.
I read it incorrectly and I didn't find the contact link on the webpage, so I posted here.
It's your workshop, so I thought contact you, but now I realize you are likely too busy for such a minor detail.
Sorry for the confusion.
Here is what my brain saw

Here is an excerpt from the page for the event. I know there are a few people that are opening their houses and yards. I will see if I can get more information on that.

"CAMPING:

Tent camping on site will be on a first come, first serve basis. Please bring $10 cash to check-in, and note that we are located in a burn-ban area so bring a propane stove if you are planning on cooking. No pets are allowed. No smoking or alcohol allowed.

Harmony Grove also has cabins for rent from $30 to $60/night for two people. You can reserve one through them at either hgsa@nethere.com or by phone at (760) 745-9176. No smoking or alcohol allowed, but pets are welcomed here!

Since camping space is limited, we send a special request to all of our San Diego Permies to consider opening their house/yard (rooms, couch, or tent space) for out-of-town permies. You can charge $ 10-30 and donate part of the income to the Southern California Convergence Funds. Please see under "Forums" for requests/offers of hospitality."

Just wanted to say that the workshop finished a few hours ago and everyone is going to be really happy to see the fun that we had over the last few days. I don't want to spoil the surprises, but as an attendee I learned everything I expected to get out of the course....and more.

I wanna say that Paul did a fucking outstanding job teaching this workshop!!!

Working with nature benefitted the design process... An out of season rain filled up the pond that we had just constructed....without a liner.

I was impressed by the herpetological variety on that property. I heard pacific treefrogs, we saw a couple western rattlesnakes and plenty of western fence lizards, and then there were these:

[Here's where the picture of Melissa petting the night snake was, but I removed it because somebody reminded me that Joe didn't want to be in pictures, and he was in the background behind Melissa. So, imagine a hand sticking into the frame, holding a small snake, and Melissa petting it & smiling, and Joe in the background somewhere, and that's more or less what was here. That's the Joe that posted a couple of times above, leaving his full name and city & state of residence, in case you were wondering. You'll just have to guess at what he looks like, though: NO PHOTOS!
The caption was the important bit. It said, "Melissa getting to know a night snake", or something like that. The important thing is, there were night snakes. I added another night snake photo below. Without Joe in it. The hand belongs to another person entirely.]

[If anyone can tell me why I see only "Jacob and Alden test the water quality" in Paul's post above, and then a lot of empty space (no photos, videos, anything), please email me about it. Frustrating. I think that is happening for me in a lot of posts.]

Laine MacTague wrote:[If anyone can tell me why I see only "Jacob and Alden test the water quality" in Paul's post above, and then a lot of empty space (no photos, videos, anything), please email me about it. Frustrating. I think that is happening for me in a lot of posts.]

I think you need Java and Flash enabled to play the videos. Also, you may have an add-on to stop stuff playing when you open a page. My other half's laptop was set like that and I had to disable add-ons every time I used it else I couldn't see the videos.

Wesley Roe posted this picture on facebook (and gave me permission to put it here). He said:

My Favorite photo from 3rd southern California Permaculture Convergence http://socalconvergence.org/ in San Diego March 9,10 2013 Paul Wheaton has met his match , the Youngman in coveralls takes on the Duke as he is trying to explain the earthworks to the crowd of wheatheads
Thanks you organizers for a great event

I recorded a podcast with Alden Hough (the site owner) and Joey Delia (he did the planting afterwards). We talked about the workshop from last March and the upcoming San Diego Convergence where more earthworks will take place. What worked with the existing earthworks and what didn't.

Would the additions made at this workshop have any effect on the resiliency of the property after the fire damage?

If so, it would be good to document that as a follow up to the world domination gardening videos, comparing this property to a neighboring piece of land which was also hit by the fire but didn't have these water-retaining features.

Also, even though these elements were only in place for a short period of time, with little to no rain to hydrate the landscape in that year, was the damage perhaps less devastating as on neighboring properties?

I don't have much knowledge about the aftermath of such fires, but I'm curious if there is any noticeable difference, and how those differences might make a strong case for permaculture.